Bay State Brumby Comes to Honeysuckle Faire!

Yes, it is true!!!!! On Friday a very special thing happened at Honeysuckle Faire - the adorable blogger Colleen from Bay State Brumby and her family came to visit us!!!!! Here the lovely Colleen leads Pie-Pie out to the pasture.

And guess what? Colleen rode our Sovereign all around the farm - how great is that?!?!

Way back in February of 2009 I received the kindest email from Colleen telling me she enjoyed my blog. She didn't have a blog yet, but she told me about her sweet Lilly. This was our first communication and I could tell immediately that Colleen was my kind of person. 

She started her own blog soon after and the rest is history - everyone adores Bay State Brumby and the adventures of Lilly and Colleen, Brandon, Kestrel, Bill and all the furry friends at Bear River!

There is a funny story about Colleen's first email. In January of 2009, Maizie and Brian felt sorry for me because no one had commented on my blog up to that point, so Maizie composed an email from a pretend "reader" to encourage me. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker and ran through the house whooping that I had a reader. Poor Maizie then had to tell me that she made the whole thing up to keep me inspired.

In February of 2009 when a real live person named Colleen wrote to tell me she liked the blog, I again ran around the house squealing that I had a reader (I just can't be kept down). Maizie was standing behind a closet door and silently mouthed the question to Brian, "Did you write that one?"

The whole thing was hilarious, but it was the start of a true blogging friendship. I hoped for a long time that I would someday meet Colleen. Friday that dream finally came true!

If you follow her blog, you know Colleen is a character! Here she is cracking me up!

Brian took this shot of Brandon, Kestrel, Colleen, me and Maizie in front of our house. They visited with us there before we headed over to the barn. It was extremely hot and humid so the plan was to stay cool in the house as long as possible before going to see the horses. 

Action shot of us grooming up Pie.

Here I'm talking about horsey things while Mom and Colleen (and Pie!) listen. I probably was trying to figure out how we could ride together in that awful heat! It was finally decided that Colleen would ride Sovey and I would walk along on the ground. When I ride with someone else, there is always one horse left behind. That horse is usually a little fussed up because he is left alone and it was just too hot to have a horse all worked up so I left two back at the barn and walked along on foot with Colleen.

Here I am showing Colleen that she actually does have a "stop" in the bitless bridle. Sovereign is backing up for her too.

The sky was blue and the grass was green, but don't be fooled. This was a hellishly hot day! Ugh - the temperature was horrid! But our sweet Sovereign is the best horse in the world and kindly walked Colleen all around anyway. He is my go-to-boy for unfavorable weather conditions - a one in a million horse.  

Maizie only took photos of the first half of the ride. Both families and my mom walked along on foot behind and I think they all were melted by the end. I hope the Bay Staters visit us again in cooler weather when Colleen and I can ride together!

And!!!!!!!!! We are heading up to see our sweet Sage in Vermont in a few days so maybe I will get to visit Colleen and family and meet Bill and the lovely Lilly Brumby very soon!!!!!!